Today we explored Minecraft 1.2, the amazing expansion that we've heard so much about from GameChap. Many changes have been added to the Game Edus world, many of them fun and enjoyable. But with every wonder, there is a terror as well. We found this out the hard way.
It started out with talking. Phisa and I were very excited for new mobs, such as the protective Iron Golems and Shy Ocelots. But first, we had to find and/or craft these critters. Being an expert, Phisa created an army of Golems in no time flat.
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| Terra and Phisa pose with "Golly" the Iron Golem |
While Phisa tried out his new toys on some unfortunate skeletons, Lira and I headed towards the NPC Village to confirm more Minecraft Myths. On the way, we investigated our new cheat code set up. We can no longer teleport home, which is a huge disadvantage. We also found out that our "teleport to another player code" has changed its formula slightly:
/tp (you) (player you want to port to)
In the village, we found a shocking sight. Well, maybe not that shocking for me and Phisa, but Lira sure seemed excited. Two villagers were standing in a wheat field, holding hands. Then, minutes later, out popped a pint sized, baby villager. They are surprisingly fast and tricky, too. They seemed to have fun, locking me in a room. Before you knew it, there were over 7 baby villagers, chasing each other in the fields.
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| Baby villager! (But why must the "love dance" be outside near wheat?) |
Then, night fell, and the villagers began to pile inside their houses. At first, we thought it may have been a special party or ceremony, since villagers rarely go inside over night. These are the people who can calmly to creepers. Curious, we decided to head inside and have a look.
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| Terra investigates the crowd while a kid sits at the table |
Inside, the whole village was gathered in a small corner, as if hiding. We didn't realize why until it was too late. There was a new sound, a sound I've never heard before, but still scared me. At the door was a zombie, attempting to bust open it.
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| Add in the sound, and this is "Walking Dead" level scary! |
Eventually, he broke in. Lira tried to face him, but I found myself cowering in a corner. The villagers were unscathed as the zombie was defeated. But when we tried to go out and fight we found more foes awaiting us. A creeper blew up one house, sadly, and one villager child was killed by another zombie. But despite the minor damages, the village looked almost untouched in the end.
Then we went searching for Ocelots by my house. We got lost a bunch of times, and nearly died, thanks to the creepers and the holes they blew in the ice. But we did find one good thing. Phisa and Lira found some wolves and got them to mate. Out popped a baby wolf, whom Lira loved to pieces.
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| Lira's itty-bitty cutesy-wutsy baby PUPPY! |
With our new litter, we ventured off to what appeared to be a Jungle Biome at first, but turned out to be a larger marsh.
We returned home, and experienced another break-in at the Safehouse. A creeper found his way into the house, and is still lurking in the corridors beneath. I'm deciding to avoid the Safehouse for the next little while.
Despite all of the dangers, we've had a great time in the new patch.
March 7, 2012
Today was frustrating and rewarding. My grade 2 Minecraft fan and I had a great conversation at recess about the new additions and I finally mentioned something he'd never heard of: Herobrine. I have to print him out an article about this mysterious and mythical Minecraft figure for him to read soon. In my school's Minecraft Club, we tried to access the multi-school server but we were still blocked from accessing the port. The three volunteers that offered to stay after school to try it out (plus Terragrim - I had to pick her up from school) decided to play in single player mode while I made phone calls to Praxismaxis and to the EDGE Lab (where I had the pleasure of speaking with "Mrs. Praxis"). MCEPIC0 was playing in creative mode and spawned some ocelots. Terra watched eagerly and was a bit jealous. MC and Hellcrafterz showed me how to create an automatic door using redstone and pistons. I took notes so I'd remember.
The Gaming Edus server wasn't up during most of the evening but Prax turned it on early enough for the Grims to squeeze 90 minutes of play time. We actually split up to try different things. Terra and Phisa went exploring to find jungle biomes in the hopes of finding some ocelots. I decided to attempt to make the automatic gate - my very first invention using redstone technology. I chose to make it near the ladder route to the Safe House to keep it protected from invaders. It was a bit hard because my pistons wouldn't position in the proper way and I had to keep breaking them down and resetting them. The creeper in the safe house seems to have vanished, although I think there's a skeleton archer in the mine near the safe house; while building, he'd try to pop up out of the ground to get me but was too far below to reach. My gate works, although Phisa critically remarked "Nice gate Mom, but you know that they can just get access to the entrance by going around the back".
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| My first technological creation - an automatic door! |
I quickly checked the TDSB / EDGE lab server connection from home and it worked like a charm. I made the Agnes Macphail PS Safe House a bit more cozy and useful and logged out.
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| An unusual shape but a nice home-away-from-home for Grims |
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